“Jake, if this is your distrusting side popping up, you need to take a breath. I’m going to Jaime’s house because she needs me. I don’t want you to drive me because I want you to stay and enjoy this exhibition that only comes once a year and that you’re so clearly excited about. That’s all. I’m not entertaining this jealousy shit.”
His nostrils flare as he takes in a few deep breaths. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better. Please let me know when youget there safely.” He kisses my cheek and I promise to text him as soon as I get there.
Jaime’santhracite grey door flies open before I’ve even stepped out of the cab, her face red and blotchy, although she’s no longer crying.
I pull her into a crushing hug as soon as I get close enough, and she holds on just as tight. “Can we move this inside, though? It’s like four degrees and my nipples might fall off,” I mumble into her cherry-scented hair.
She huffs a short laugh and walks backwards without letting me go, and I kick the door shut behind me. We stand like that in her hallway, swaying softly for several minutes.
When she finally pulls back, her eyes are red-rimmed, but the look of despair that she wore when I arrived has morphed into a mixture of anger and hurt.
“Where’s Marcus?” I ask, holding her by the shoulders.
She wipes her nose with the back of her hand and turns to walk into the lounge. “With my parents.”
We detour into the kitchen so she can grab the wine and an extra glass for me before we move to sit on her black leather sofa. She pours me a glass and then tops up her own, taking a huge gulp.
I sip my wine as we sit in the silence, the winter sunshine streaming in through the window beside us painting her profile in shades of gold and yellow. I let her stew in her thoughts for a few minutes before I break her out of her reverie.
“What happened, chicken?” I ask softly, my hand on her knee.
“Fucking Isaiah. He…I can’t believe…I’m just so fuckingangry!” she grits out through clenched teeth. “I know, IknowI say it all the time, but this is it. I’m done. There is no coming back from this,” her voice cracks at the end, which has me sliding closer to her.
“Coming back from what, J? What did he do?” I coax.
She scoffs, “You meanwho.”
What?He cheated on her? Fucking hell.
“Oh god, whodidhe do? How big does their joint grave need to be?”
A smile valiantly tries to break through her expression, but immediately turns into a frown. She looks down at her wine and murmurs so quietly I almost don’t hear her, “My sister.”
“Your…your what? Your SISTER??”
“None other than Abby. Perfect little Abby, the baby of the family who can do no wrong and always gets what she wants. Well, apparently she wanted my boyfriend!”
I am absolutely fuming for her. Abby has always been an entitled little shit, and she and Jaime have never really gotten along. But this is low, even for her. I suspect that Jaime’s actually more upset about Abby’s betrayal than Isaiah’s, even if she’s being more vocal about him.
“Fuck, J! What, when…what? How did you find out?” I sling my arm behind her and rub her back.
“Oh, this is the best part. We spent last night at Isaiah’s, and my parents wanted to take Marcus to this Frost Fair near theirs today. I had a headache, so I was going to go home and nap, but when we got to their house, I realised I’d left Marcus’ coat at Isaiah’s.”
“I don’t like where this is going.”
“It’s exactly what you think,” she takes a deep breath before continuing. “So, I drop Marcus off and head back to Isaiah’s to grab his coat, but when I get there, my sister’s car is in thedriveway. Weird, but I guess not completely unheard of. Like, maybe she thought Marcus and I were still there. It could be anything as innocent as that, right?”
Even though I know exactly what she’s going to say next, I keep hoping for Jaime’s sake that I’m wrong.
“Now, you may be thinking that I walked in and heard them going at it before I went to go find them, but that’s not how it went down. Because they made it super convenient for me. I didn’t have to go looking for them at all. Isaiah was balls deep in my sisteron the fucking stairs!Like they couldn’t make it to the bedroom, or even a more comfortable surface, because they were so overcome with lust for each other. They just dropped trou and started going at it…” she chokes on her words and the tears start falling.
I grab her wine and put both our glasses on the coffee table so I can wrap her in another bear hug, letting her soak my shirt with her tears.
“Jaime,” I whisper, a lump in my throat for how upset she is. I hate this for her. “I’m so, so sorry you had to find out that way. That it even happened at all. I don’t even know what to say!”
She sobs into my neck, and even though I start getting pins and needles from the awkward position, I won’t move until she’s ready.
I stay with Jaime all afternoon, and when her parents drop Marcus home, I stick by her side as she tells them why she’s so upset. I can see that they don’t want to believe their youngest would do such a thing, and maybe it’s not my place since I’m not blood, but Jaime ismysister and I won’t let the rest of her family hurt her even more. So when her mother starts trying to defend Abby, I have to jump in.
